“Makes even grown men cry” - Fans react as Tony Stewart’s NASCAR team celebrates its final #14 car

Fans turned emotional as Tony Stewart's Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) shared a clip of the celebration of their last #14 car ahead of the final race of the Cup Series season in Phoenix. The team is set to cease operations after the end of this season.

The Stewart-Haas merger announced their closure earlier this season, leaving both their drivers and fans distressed. While drivers have found seats for the next NASCAR season, fans once again found themselves loaded with emotions as the team revealed their last #14 Ford ahead of the Championship race.

The #14 car is a legendary one for the team. Tony Stewart, co-owner with Gene Haas, drove this number to a Championship victory in 2011 and was the pilot for five consecutive seasons.

Chase Briscoe has been behind the wheel of the car since the 2021 season. Although he never won the title, he did manage to win two races.

Preparing the car ahead of the season's final race, the team shared a clip on social media and wrote:

"The Final No. 14."

This was enough to open a bank of memories for the fans. A user wrote:

"This is the kind of stuff that makes even grown men cry."

"This blows…but it was a great ride. Thanks for the memories and championships," another fan commented.

"Thank you for the memories! The 14 will always remind me of Tony no matter who is behind the wheel! Congratulations to the team for running strong all the way until the end," a fan expressed themselves.

At the same time, some felt that the car should have been dedicated to Tony Stewart, using one of his throwback liveries from when he piloted it.

"No throwback lame," a user said.

"A old school Stewart throwback would have been cool. Office Depot or something...either way it's cool," suggested another fan.

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Rodney Childers shares emotional message ahead of final race with Tony Stewart's team

Rodney Childers has been a long-term employee at Stewart-Haas Racing. He left MWR in 2014 to join Kevin Harvick on the team as his crew chief and continued with the team. After the latter's retirement, he continued to work with the #4 but with Josh Berry this time.

Bringing in a championship with the team and having worked for a little over a decade, Childers felt emotional as the working days with Tony Stewart were coming to an end. He shared an emotional message on X, writing:

"11 years and over 4000 days of working at SHR. Office has been cleaned out and tomorrow will be my last day in the building.. Still hard to even fathom. So many great memories. But I’m excited for what’s next and blessed to be able to go be with another family of racers.."

Childers will move to Spire Motorsports in 2025, replacing Ryan Sparks as the crew chief of the #7 car.